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With World Green Building Week in mind, here are the top sustainable buildings that we have spotted in the last several months.
This year’s World Green Building Week focuses on the idea of #BuildingResilience, specifically how a “holistic approach to building resilience can accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals and sustainable buildings for everyone, everywhere.”
As the World Green Business Council points out, buildings are responsible for 38 per cent of global energy-related carbon emissions and 50 per cent of all extracted materials.
At Springwise, we continue to track the latest innovative developments in designing and building sustainable buildings across the globe. Here are seven of the most promising built environments that aim to be a part of the solution to the ongoing climate crisis.
1. A SUSTAINABLE, TRIANGULAR-SHAPED BICYCLE GARAGE IN SWEDEN
Swedish Tengbom architects have designed a bicycle garage that has room for 1200 vehicles. The garage, which is situated beside the central station in Uppsala, has been designed as a beacon of the city’s sustainability ambitions, both socially and environmentally.
The design is both functional and graceful, with its wooden frame holding a unique triangular shape that is covered by mirroring glass façades. Two levels are connected by a wooden ramp, allowing commuters to ride their bikes between floors. The garage also presents a sedum-covered roof that allows it to absorb excess water from heavy rains and solar cells to provide an eco-friendly source of power.
Read more about this sustainable bike garage.
2. RESOURCE-GENERATING BUILDING SETS SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS
Termed a “living building”, the Kendeda has not settled for just being greener than other buildings. Instead, it is regenerative – generating more energy than it uses.
The building was designed and constructed by US firm, Miller Hull Partnership, in collaboration with local Atlanta firm, Lord Aeck Sargent. The building will be used as classroom space, but a number of areas, such as the lecture hall, roof garden and atrium, will also be made available for community events. Georgia Tech’s mission in developing the building is to expose as many people as possible to the project’s ideals of resiliency and sustainability.
Read more about this “living building.”
3. SCHOOL MADE OF BAMBOO PROMOTES AND SUSTAINS NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
In Bali, a school that promotes sustainability through learning in a natural environment is practising what it preaches by constructing its buildings from an unusual material – bamboo. The Green School was founded by John and Cynthia Hardy, and designed by their daughter Elora Hardy and her studio Ibuku, in collaboration with bamboo architect Jörg Stamm and structural engineering firm Atelier One.
Most of the structures of the Green School are built using bamboo designed in organic forms and shapes. The latest building at the school, the Arc gymnasium, features a unique and complex double-curved roof. The roof is supported by 14-metre-high bamboo arches and curved shells to create an undulating canopy held in place through tension.
Read more about the Green School in Bali.
4. STUDENTS CONSTRUCT OFF-GRID RESEARCH CENTRE
Yale architecture students have constructed a research station on an island, using regenerative techniques that reduce the environmental impact of the building.
The research station is completely off-grid. It is equipped with an incinerating toilet, which burns waste into ash, so there is no risk of effluent escaping into the ecologically sensitive environment. A rainwater collection system provides water for washing, which will be filtered and reintroduced into the environment. Photovoltaic panels supply electricity, hot water and heat. The panels are attached to four openings in the roof that also act as wind scoops to circulate air through the building.
Read more about Yale’s research centre.
5. SOCIAL HOUSING IN PARIS USES HEMPCRETE TO LOWER CARBON FOOTPRINT
French architecture firm Barrault Pressacco created a new building in Paris’ 18th Arrondissement for 15 social housing apartments and two ground floor shops. The structure includes two central courtyards that enhance natural lighting as well as provide semi-private outdoor space for residents. Each apartment has bay windows overlooking the street and additional windows that look into the courtyards.
The wood-framed building uses hempcrete instead of concrete for the walls, and, as a result, already conforms to newly enacted government regulations regarding the sustainability of all new public construction projects. The hempcrete is applied as a spray in layers within the frame before being finished with an interior of lime rendering.
Read more about this sustainable housing project.
6. A LOW-CARBON CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS USES LOCATION TO ITS ADVANTAGE
International non-profit Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) is dedicated to solving problems related to agriculture and the environment by using their scientific expertise. So, when CABI wanted a new headquarters, they knew that it was important to have a design that reflected their mission. The result is a model for sustainable buildings, based in Wallingford, UK.
Designed by Scott Brownrigg architects, the innovative design echoes CABI’s commitment to creating a more sustainable world by leaving less of a carbon footprint and minimising the environmental impact. The building’s location and orientation were chosen to provide shade in the summer and to maximise sunshine during the winter. A photo-voltaic solar array will help provide energy, and roof lights will reduce demand for electric lighting and help to lower CO2 emissions.
Read more about this low-carbon office building.
7. SWISS CARBON-NEUTRAL BUILDING CAN ADAPT TO THE CLIMATE
Accommodating around 180 employees and built using mainly renewable materials, the new Sonova Wireless Competence Centre in Murten operates carbon-neutrally and adapts to the outside climate.
Made of a single wythe of climate-neutrally manufactured blocks, the building’s façade is designed to retain energy and moisture. The walls and ceilings are coated in pure lime putty, which purifies the air indoors and regulates atmospheric humidity, while the building’s photovoltaic panels generate 260,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year, a higher output of renewable and carbon-neutral electricity than is required to run it. This surplus capacity is fed back into the grid and made available to other consumers.
Read more about this carbon-neutral building.
